October 17, 2017 l Boston. The 2017 Best Practices exclusive workshop and awards program for the industry’s truly elite firms will highlight content from the 2017 Adviser Technology Study as well as the 2017 Compensation and Staffing Study”

KEYNOTE SESSION: The Sophisticated Adviser's Playbook for the New World of Investing

Low growth and low yields — in a world dominated by uncertain central bank policies — make planning for adequate, safe returns next to impossible. If that’s not bad enough, the advent of robo-advice and increasing popularity of target-date and index funds has undermined the perceived value of financial advice. To succeed, advisers must offer sophisticated alternatives to the standard 60/40 variants. Bob explains how advisers can design portfolios that offer growth, income or risk management to attract new clients and keep existing ones happy.

On a standalone basis, the U.S. middle market would represent the world’s third largest economy. However, investment opportunities in this growth sector have historically been limited to banks and other institutional investors. That’s changing. This session explores the middle market economy and the most efficient ways investors can invest in the private debt and private equity of this sector.

This session continues the discussion around generating income but will focus specifically on the various products and vehicles that are available. The panel of experts will explore basic research and deeper due diligence techniques for evaluating and allocating everything from liquid alternative mutual funds to more sophisticated MLPs, BDCs, and emerging market debt options.

Bob Rice and a panel of experts will explain recent developments in “productizing” private equity especially new "40 Act" structures. Do these really provide individual investors with the same caliber of investments that have been the favorites of institutions for years? How are they designed to offer liquidity and what are the tradeoffs to investing in traditional limited partnerships? Most importantly: Are they a good option for investors seeking growth?

Distressed credit, venture capital, activist investing, and equity BDCs all provide growth opportunities even as public markets are fully priced. Our panel will discuss which strategies are working in today’s market environment and how to integrate those strategies into clients’ portfolios.

This session will explain the multiple approaches to enhanced indexing. Our experts will explore the pros and cons and shed light on how these strategies can be successfully integrated into portfolios containing both active and passive products.

Just one week after the presidential election, in the wake of a campaign that has been described as one of the most unusual in recent history, this session will look at what it all means going forward, including how our next president might impact the financial markets and the financial advice industry.

Generating consistent income streams is now more challenging than ever especially if you are still relying on traditional income investment vehicles. This session will discuss why alternative strategies are a must in your search for yield.

The biggest obstacle to advisers’ use of 40 act funds is their inability to evaluate them with standard mutual fund benchmarks. This panel will explain how advisers can analyze and compare alternative mutual fund strategies, performance, and fees.

Since the financial crisis, international central banks have ensured a placid investing environment with unprecedented monetary policies. But as the stock market’s violent reaction to the Brexit vote proved, volatility can pop up unexpectedly and send investors into panic mode. Meanwhile, many other risks abound, from the lack of fixed-income liquidity to geopolitical and military tensions. How should advisers — and their clients — prepare.

Do strategies really exist that both provide downside protection and generate current profits? How does “diversification” work in a world of growing correlations? This panel will offer up concrete suggestions and ideas for risk management tools that don’t just make investors “pay to wait,” and instead can provide both solid returns and important downside insulation

In this session you’ll hear how other financial advisers are attracting new clients, and keeping existing ones, by using nontraditional investment strategies inside their client portfolios. Also, new research from InvestmentNews will be presented around how alternatives are best being used with today’s most savvy investors. Key discussion topics will include: helping clients understand the pros and cons of alternatives; matching the alternative strategies to the client and the scenario; compliance concerns; and due diligence issues.